Range report -Old school 3030Win

[JMRhino]

This one. It’s a 22” 336XLR.
Funny story.

Heard a story about a guy who didn’t want to talk to his wife about buying another rifle.
So he went to the he gun store, picked one out and worked out a lay away deal. So every day, he’d skip lunch and save his lunch money… long time passes and he eventually pays it off. To get it in the house, he conspires with the gun shop.
Monday while he’s at work….
The gun store calls his house. Wife answers the phone. Hi, does so an so live here?
Yes.
Can I speak with him?
no he is at work.
Can you have him call us at “local” gun store? He won the Raffle and his rifle is ready to pick up.

His wife is excited her husband is a winner and take him to the gun store the next day to pick up his prize and pick out a really nice scope for his free rifle.
Told my wife the story and told her I’d never to that to her.

3 months later, my raffle ticket gets drawn and I get the Marlin 336XLR in stainless with grey laminate 22” barrel….I got the look. Told her I bought $100 in raffle tickets and put them in the jars of the rifles I was Interested in. Everytime I get a gun out, is that the one you “won”? Air quotes..


Guys, dont be an idiot like me. don’t tell your wives that story. I was an idiot the day I told her… on the plus side.. It was like a guarantee I’d win one in The near future!

Here’s the picture from the day I brought it home.

Genius! I am ashamed to not have thought of that!

 

[Wolfshead]

This one. It’s a 22” 336XLR.
Funny story.

Heard a story about a guy who didn’t want to talk to his wife about buying another rifle.
So he went to the he gun store, picked one out and worked out a lay away deal. So every day, he’d skip lunch and save his lunch money… long time passes and he eventually pays it off. To get it in the house, he conspires with the gun shop.
Monday while he’s at work….
The gun store calls his house. Wife answers the phone. Hi, does so an so live here?
Yes.
Can I speak with him?
no he is at work.
Can you have him call us at “local” gun store? He won the Raffle and his rifle is ready to pick up.

His wife is excited her husband is a winner and take him to the gun store the next day to pick up his prize and pick out a really nice scope for his free rifle.
Told my wife the story and told her I’d never to that to her.

3 months later, my raffle ticket gets drawn and I get the Marlin 336XLR in stainless with grey laminate 22” barrel….I got the look. Told her I bought $100 in raffle tickets and put them in the jars of the rifles I was Interested in. Everytime I get a gun out, is that the one you “won”? Air quotes..


Guys, dont be an idiot like me. don’t tell your wives that story. I was an idiot the day I told her… on the plus side.. It was like a guarantee I’d win one in The near future!

Here’s the picture from the day I brought it home.

Beautiful rifle!
Might have to borrow that story idea!

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Nice looking rifle. I like those half magazine ones. Glad you won the raffle. I never do. Guns were being raffled off by a guy my brother-in-law worked with. Told him to get me a ticket. He said I'll pay for it. I still lost

 

[Blkram]

I like the 336XLR's!
Would love to find one in 338 Marlin.
Finally saw the first one here north of the border for sale last month...but the guy wanted over $4000 for it!

 

[PJGunner]

I only have one Marlin, a 336 Texan. However, I do have a lot of 30-30s.
Two M94s, one dated to 1911, the other to 1979/80. Two more ae really just variations om the M94 but IMHO the best vrsion of the breed. The M64, one from 1938, my birth year and the other from 1971 which I think was the last year for the M64. Layer on, Winchester did another run of what they called M64s but at least in pictures I saw, they screwed the pooch on that one. I never saw one in the flesh and I don't think they lasted very long.
Last but not least in an M54. Winchester actually chambered a serious bolt action rifle in 30-30 that sold so poorly they threw them on the market for $25.00. just to get rid of them. Exterior shows a lot of wear and tear but the bore is as shiny as a brand new silver dime. It came with an odd looking receiver sight by Redfield and was a factory extra on the rifle. It's my best cast bullet shooter.
Speaking about cast bullets, that's about all I shoot in my 30-30s anymore. I can easily duplicate a factory 170 gr. load with the Lyman #311291 bullet It's a nice paper punching load in all my 30-30s but best in the M54.
Years back, sometime in the mid 1980s, I had the standard Marlin 336, not the Texan which came later. I did more than a bit of shooting cast with that rifle and to this day regret selling it as it was an above average shooter with cast. One day at the range there was a fellow who was also shooting a Marlin 336 like mine an he was grumbling and cussing up a bunch so I asked him what was his problem. Seems he was shooting cast bullets and getting patterns rather than groups. I asked some questions and what he was shooting was raw wheelweights and sizing them to .308" diameter. His barrel was pretty badly fouled so I said to clean our as much of that lead as you can and we'll try my load which was doing between 1.5 and .20" at100 yards, velocity about 1960 FPS. While he was cleaning I explained to him that bullet size was important and that he should try .309-.310" and maybe even .311".
He gt the barrel clean enough that we could run a few of my load through his as see what happens. I told him to fire two rounds quickly to foul the barrel and wait a few minutes, then run a five shot string with a minute apart between shots. End result was a 2.5" group which wasn't all that bad considering the barrel got an emergency type cleaning and was still showing fouling when the group was shot. You should have seen the grin on his face. When he left, he had a list I'd written down on how I made my alloy and heat treated bullet, what sizing die and other details.

FWIW, I have no problem hunting deer with the30-30 and my cast bullets. I just don't get much chance out here in open country by yes, they do work.
PJ

 

[mjcmichigan]

I like the 336XLR's!
Would love to find one in 338 Marlin.
Finally saw the first one here north of the border for sale last month...but the guy wanted over $4000 for it!

Yikes! 4K!? Wow! That’s a fishing expedition! I like the 338 Marlin idea!

 

[mjcmichigan]

I only have one Marlin, a 336 Texan. However, I do have a lot of 30-30s.
Two M94s, one dated to 1911, the other to 1979/80. Two more ae really just variations om the M94 but IMHO the best vrsion of the breed. The M64, one from 1938, my birth year and the other from 1971 which I think was the last year for the M64. Layer on, Winchester did another run of what they called M64s but at least in pictures I saw, they screwed the pooch on that one. I never saw one in the flesh and I don't think they lasted very long.
Last but not least in an M54. Winchester actually chambered a serious bolt action rifle in 30-30 that sold so poorly they threw them on the market for $25.00. just to get rid of them. Exterior shows a lot of wear and tear but the bore is as shiny as a brand new silver dime. It came with an odd looking receiver sight by Redfield and was a factory extra on the rifle. It's my best cast bullet shooter.
Speaking about cast bullets, that's about all I shoot in my 30-30s anymore. I can easily duplicate a factory 170 gr. load with the Lyman #311291 bullet It's a nice paper punching load in all my 30-30s but best in the M54.
Years back, sometime in the mid 1980s, I had the standard Marlin 336, not the Texan which came later. I did more than a bit of shooting cast with that rifle and to this day regret selling it as it was an above average shooter with cast. One day at the range there was a fellow who was also shooting a Marlin 336 like mine an he was grumbling and cussing up a bunch so I asked him what was his problem. Seems he was shooting cast bullets and getting patterns rather than groups. I asked some questions and what he was shooting was raw wheelweights and sizing them to .308" diameter. His barrel was pretty badly fouled so I said to clean our as much of that lead as you can and we'll try my load which was doing between 1.5 and .20" at100 yards, velocity about 1960 FPS. While he was cleaning I explained to him that bullet size was important and that he should try .309-.310" and maybe even .311".
He gt the barrel clean enough that we could run a few of my load through his as see what happens. I told him to fire two rounds quickly to foul the barrel and wait a few minutes, then run a five shot string with a minute apart between shots. End result was a 2.5" group which wasn't all that bad considering the barrel got an emergency type cleaning and was still showing fouling when the group was shot. You should have seen the grin on his face. When he left, he had a list I'd written down on how I made my alloy and heat treated bullet, what sizing die and other details.

FWIW, I have no problem hunting deer with the30-30 and my cast bullets. I just don't get much chance out here in open country by yes, they do work.
PJ

PJ you have a great collection!

 

[Blkram]

Yikes! 4K!? Wow! That’s a fishing expedition! I like the 338 Marlin idea!

Yah, he either had no intentions of selling, but could still tell the wife that he was "trying to sell it", or he has factored in the current exchange rate, the tariffs and taxes , plus the cost of the ammo he has shot through it, and all the gas he has spent going to buy it, shoot it and hunt with it, and coffee and lunches, and then a premium for "how rare it is", and then added storage fees for all the time it sat in his closet till now!